We’ve been working on a brand-new project in our secret development lair. Something that’s useful for everyone that feels a bit out of tune sometimes. After all these months of testing and perfecting, the moment has come where we show you our newest innovation. Hit the spots!

We proudly present Karang, the first free multi-string tuner, also know as a polyphonic tuner. “A multi, poly whaaat?!” This means Karang needs only one strum to hear which strings are in tune and which are out of tune. You can download Karang for free in the App Store. We’ve listed some info about the app, so you can get acquainted with it.

How does it work?

In general, tuning software works by picking up the sound of your guitar, through your microphone, and representing it as a waveform. Then it identifies recurring patterns in the waveform, from which it can infer the played string’s frequency. After that, it simply calculates how much this frequency deviates from an in tune frequency. Karang is unique, because it also works as a polyphonic tuner, isolating all individual strings’ frequencies in the recorded waveform. This way Karang can show you where to start tuning after just one strum.

What does the Karang mean?

The technical term is polyphonic tuner, but in linguistic terms Karang would be called an onomatopoeia, which means it’s a word that imitates the sound that it describes. In the case of Karang, this is the sound of you strumming your guitar. The best way to explain this is to see for yourself. So, pick up your guitar. Say: “Karang.” Now give it a strum. You see! Karang!

This is only the beginning

This is the first version of our tuner, but that doesn’t mean we stop here. For now, we keep it simple and efficient: the app allows you to tune your guitar in the standard E tuning at 440 hertz. But we’re sure that our users (you) have great ideas about what to develop next, so we’ll keep listening to what you want. Let us know, and you’ll also decide what comes after multi-string tuning.

Jamming without a guitar!

If you open the app, you’ll see that it’s also possible to hit the digital strings. This way you can use Karang as a tuning fork. Which comes in handy when you’re tuning your voice, or you want to train your hearing. But we said you can also jam with the app.

“How?” Well, follow our lead. Open the app and hit the open E string (orange), followed by the G (green), B (yellow), and e (blue). Then, in one fluent movement, up again; B, G, and E. You’ve just played the intro of “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica. Stay tuned for more updates, enjoy, and happy jamming!